Book Review: Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: April 2014
Pages: 624
Source: Purchased
For: Fun
Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Book 3

Summary from goodreads: *Spoilers are inevitable for the first two books*

By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?

Things I Liked:
I really like the world Laini has set up here.  She's created the mythology and the complexities to have our world coexist with her imaginary world.  She has such a unique way of writing that you would recognize something from her, even if you didn't know it was her (I think).  I love how strange and wonderful at the same time her creations are.  At once disturbing in its images and also beautiful.  Particularly the way she describes the beasts.  I was happy with the way things ended and wondered about more of what would happen.  It seems like she left it open to write more if she wanted to.  This series seems like from the premise it would be familiar, but it is much more interesting and unique than its idea.  Wonderful and rich and vivid.

Things I Didn't Like:
This story had a lot going on and I think it suffered a bit because of that.  There was a lot of jumping around and perspective changes that threw me sometimes.  I also thought the very ending felt like it didn't need to be included.  The denouement was loooong and I almost just wanted the book to end after the end of the main conflict.  It was kind of nice to see everything after, but I think I could have done without it all.  Also, I think some of the details about magic and how that stuff worked, while gorgeously described, was super vague and left me wanting.  Basically, I didn't quite understand everything she was writing about and thought it was sketchy on the details.  Still, enjoyed the final installment and will continue to devour anything Taylor puts out.

Read-alikes:
Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Demon's Lexicon series by Sarah Rees Brennan

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@
some

mrg-factor: X
implied, not on page

v-factor: ->->->
some gory details, it's got battles for sure

Overall rating: ****

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage